Creating an Attractive and Appealing Streetscape

This past weekend I was reading through on of my favorite urban planning websites and came across an article that presented a new perspective about making a streetscape attractive. For those who are unfamiliar with this term, a streetscape is the look and feel of a street and it’s elements. Often this includes the basic elements of a street layout, a sidewalk, and various accessory elements such as trees, landscaped islands, or a bench.

Most times when we talk about creating a good streetscape we’ve heard (or at least urban planners have) over and over the three main elements -- active uses, a high first-floor window to facade ratio, and the presence of street furniture. Let’s break these down before we talk about a new fourth element.

Active uses refers to active land uses. These are land and building uses that create a highly active and moving atmosphere. These can include colleges or schools, retail stores, restaurants, and hotels. Think of a shopping mall. Malls have done an excellent job of creating a highly active atmosphere.

High first-floor window to facade ratios help contribute to an appealing streetscape by giving pedestrians something to look at. Having the first-floor of a building be mostly transparent brings the active atmosphere into the building while also giving pedestrians a feeling of being safer (somebody always has their eyes on them from a neighboring building and can see what is happening on the street).

The third element is street furniture or accessories. Streetscape accessories can include elements such as trees lining streets, ATM kiosks, benches, public art pieces, bike racks, and cafe tables and chairs. These elements fill up the space and make it more inviting. Think of when you first moved into your home. Yes it provided you with all the basic shelter you needed, but were the empty rooms with white paint inviting and comfortable? My guess is probably not, and the same concept goes for our streets.

The new fourth element that the article mentioned was how Instagramable was the streetscape (referring to the photo social media site Instagram). Was their something unique about the streetscape that encouraged people to take a picture with it? This concept is what has encouraged so many cities around the nation to embrace having public art and statues around their cities. It give the city something unique.

What changes do we need to make to our downtown and surrounding areas to create attractive and appealing streetscape? How can we make our streetscape Instagramable? Let’s talk about it!

A Better Workforce Is One Element to Business Recruitment

We all know the world has changed a lot from 20 or even 10 years ago. Skill sets that were valuable and desired by employers no longer play an important part in our local economy. Carter County’s unemployment rate of 7.1 percent is far from being the highest, but it is still above the state unemployment rate of 6.3 percent. This could be an indicator that our local economy hasn’t caught up to the state economy yet but, coupled with the lower per capita income in Carter County, it is more likely that we lack the workforce locally to adequately compete for jobs in demand today.

I hear old stories about how in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and even into the 80s students would graduate from high school one Sunday, and the next Monday morning they would wake and go to work in the plants or one of the other manufacturing facilities in Elizabethton. That was a great time in Elizabethton! You had to have little or no training, you had a job for life, and made a decent wage to support your family. Unfortunately those days are gone. Today even high paying manufacturing requires in depth training or some education

According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 50 percent of the fastest growing jobs today through 2022 will require some type of post-high school education or training. Half of those jobs requiring some post-high school education or training will require a Bachelor’s degree or higher. To give this a little perspective, in the future 4 people are employed in a growth industry in Elizabethton, 2 will have to have post-high school training or education and 1 will have to have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. We have some work to do!

Fortunately for Elizabethton and Carter County, we have great resources to tap into. Northeast State at Elizabethton offers many programs in which you can get some basic course classes or needed certifications for a program. Tennessee College of Applied Technology also offers a variety of training and certification programs. Carter County is also home to the Northeast Tennessee location of Alliance for Business and Training (AB&T).This is a great place to visit if you want to get a certification or training, but don’t know where to start. They can also help you in finding financing sources to pay for your training either through grants or through financial aid sources. You can also contact my office or the Library for more information and resources on starting a new career or getting training.

So let’s all work to give Elizabethton and Carter County a better workforce so that we can attract, retain, and grow businesses, industry, and jobs in Elizabethton. Let’s talk about it!